The use of vinyl siding materials has found widespread acceptance in the building industry, particularly in residential construction. These materials are particularly suitable for both recovering of an existing structure, as well as for covering the outside surfaces of new construction. Among the advantages of use of vinyl siding are its light weight and durability. The vinyl panels are impregnated with color when manufactured (usually by extrusion), and resist denting, scratching, and peeling. Siding panels of this nature are easy to work with, and provide an extremely attractive appearance when finished. Panels of this type are available in a variety of colors, and suitable extruded accessory pieces such as channels, corner posts, starter strips and cover trim are available for enhancing the ease of installation and the appearance of the finished structure.
Heretofore, use of vinyl soffit and fascia panels for covering and forming a boxed cornice of a structure has presented several problems. Because the nails and nailing slots which are used to install the panels and trim should be covered when installation is complete for the best appearance, specially fabricated vinyl pieces have usually been installed in a time consuming fashion so that all nails used for affixing the pieces to the cornice are covered when the job is finished. The typical arrangement includes at least one fascia panel for covering the outwardly facing fascia of the cornice, and soffit panels which are fitted beneath the cornice, and which may be affixed to an existing soffit depending upon the construction of the cornice.
In order to install these panels to provide a properly finished appearance, an elongated, J-shaped channel adapted to receive the inner edges of the soffit panels is first affixed beneath the cornice adjacent to the wall of the structure. This channel includes elongated nailing slots through which corrosion resistant nails are inserted for affixing the channel to the cornice. An elongated piece of cover trim, generally J-shaped in cross-section, is then affixed to the upper portion of the fascia of the cornice. Similarly, the cover trim is affixed to the fascia with nails inserted through elongated slots therein. The cover trim is typically of a configuration such that upper edges of fascia panels inserted within the trim are lockingly engaged thereby.
The next step in installation includes the application of a channel along the bottom of the fascia which is adapted to receive outer edge portions of the soffit panels. This corner channel may typically be of a J-shape or F-shape configuration, and includes an elongated portion adapted to be affixed to the cornice with nails. Frequently, this corner channel is formed integrally with the fascia panel, which includes along its upper edge portion locking lugs which are adapted to lockingly fit within the cover trim affixed along the top of the fascia. Other arrangements may include a separate fascia panel which fits about the corner channel and then may be locked to the cornice by fitting its upper edge portion within the cover trim so that it is lockingly retained therein.
With all of these types of installations, the lower surface of the cornice is provided with a channel disposed beneath the cornice adjacent to the wall of the structure, and a channel disposed along the bottom of the fascia, with the installation of the soffit panels being the next step in covering the cornice. It is this step in the installation which has proved to be the most time consuming and labor intensive. The reason for this is that each of the soffit panels includes edge portions which are adapted to interlock with the soffit panels adjacent thereto. Typically, these interlocking edge portions include an inwardly disposed lock lip along one edge, which is adapted to fit within a lock groove provided on the edge portion of the adjacent soffit panel. The edge portion of each soffit panel which includes the lock groove may typically include nailing slots so that each of the soffit panels may be affixed to the cornice.
Installation of the soffit panels has customarily entailed slipping each of the soffit panels into the respective channels provided on the bottom of the cornice from the ends of these channels. Each soffit plate is then slid through the channels into position, and its lock lip fitted and nested within the lock groove of a previously installed soffit panel. Each of the soffit panels is then affixed to the cornice by inserting nails through the nailing slots provided in the edge portion of the panel, and the procedure is then repeated for the installation of each of the soffit panels.
The result of this procedure is the covering of the cornice with vinyl siding with an attractive and professional looking finish. However, as is readily apparent, the necessity of inserting each of the soffit panels one at a time, sliding them through the respective channels beneath the cornice, interlocking them and nailing them to the cornice, and then repeating the procedure for the next soffit panel has proven to be quite labor intensive. Further, this procedure may prove to be very difficult for even the most straightforward applications since the person installing the panels would almost always be standing on a ladder or scaffolding while finishing this portion of the structure.
In some applications, insertion of the soffit panels within the channels provided along the bottom of the cornice may be attempted by bending or flexing the soffit panels and then fitting each one within the respective channels. However, this procedure may be no more simple than the procedure described above. Because each of the soffit panels usually includes edge portions which define lock lips and grooves, each of the panels exhibits a substantial degree of rigidity when attempting to bend or flex it perpendicularly of these lips and lock grooves. Further, depending upon the exact nature of the application involved, each of the soffit plates may be relatively narrow, thus making flexing of each panel an amount sufficient to fit the panel within the channels practically impossible.
Thus, a person applying the soffit panels to a cornice which would require relatively narrow panels would have no choice but to insert each of the soffit panels from the end of the respective channels, slide each through the channels into position, interlock and affix each panel in place, and then repeat the procedure, all at great time and effort.
An arrangement and method for installation of vinyl fascia and soffit panels to the cornice of the structure which would preclude the necessity of fitting the panels as described above would result in a tremendous savings of labor and installation time, thus further enhancing the desirability of the use of vinyl siding materials.